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legislation, Sir R McLaren should be instructed to take
action quickly with the Chinese side. The Governor also
suggested, in an earlier telegram, that the Secretary of State should send the Chinese Foreign Minister a message, accompany the handing over of the draft legislation at the end of this week or early next. Ministers have previously agreed that the right time for such a message would be in the
period between a decision by ExCo on the terms of the
legislation, and the publication of it. The Secretary of
State said in his memorandum to OPD (K) in early January that
he would be prepared to send a message to Qian before the
Governor tables his draft legislation, drawing attention to
any changes in it, explaining the legislative process, and reiterating HMG's wish to embark on serious discussions with
China on these issues. The aim would be to do all we could
to discourage the Chinese from using the publication of legislation as an opportunity for further action against Hong
Kong, and to emphasise that tabling in LegCo was the start of a long process, not the end.
つつ
PF Ricketts
SECRET